The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Art

Speaker: Professor Emeritus Alan Emery (Edinburgh and Oxford University)

The doctor-patient relationship has changed considerably over the centuries. There have often been cyclical changes: diagnostic improvements leading to increased respect but often followed by disillusionment if there is subsequently no effective treatment. The relationship is especially exemplified in works of art because, as John Berger has emphasised, ‘No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times.’